Sep 22

Sep 22 Katie and Grumeti - Doing great things for awareness of ex-racehorses

We interview Katie Clements, of Katie and Grumeti fame, about her life with an ex-racehorse

Katie Clements is currently rising through the social ranks with her various accounts, known famously as ‘Katie and Grumeti’, she documents her life with ex dual-code racehorse Grumeti.

The handsome fella is now turning his hand to showjumping and has become quite the celebrity!

Katie is now using that platform to raise awareness of life after racing for thoroughbreds, as well as delving a little deeper behind the scenes in racing by riding out and visiting high-profile yards within the sport.

We virtually sat down with Katie to hear from the horse’s mouth about what she was up to, and how it came to be.

Katie, we have to ask how and when you got started with horses in your life?

I rode as a kid but gave it up after a nasty fall when I was about 12/13 years old, I then came back to it at around the age of 24, mostly because my mum wanted to do it again, so I've managed to acquire quite a few horses in a relatively short riding career!

We are all big fans of your tales of life with Grumeti, and you clearly know him better than he knows himself! Some ex-racers are difficult to get to know and a bit highly strung or whatever, how was he when you first got him?

Grumeti has been the perfect gentleman from day one and to be honest I thought of him as a bit boring to begin with. We even nicknamed him Tim (nice but dim) for a while.

He was my first experience of owning an ex-racehorse and I, like many others, had heard how highly strung they could be, so I felt like I was constantly waiting for him to show that side of himself, but it never happened.

Now he's adjusted to life out of racing he has a bit more of a spark about him but in a good way.

Some people are a bit wary of taking on a thoroughbred, what do you think we can do to get more people involved in life after racing?

I think the ITV racing segments about ex-racers and the RoR do a great job of promoting them as versatile horses.

However, a lot of the focus is usually on the more well-known names from racing and I know I used to think that only the best racehorses could go on to become good horses in other equestrian spheres.

So I would love to work on a project following the retraining process of a horse and publicise that, to help people see how rewarding these horses can be.

You have been getting more into racing since you have had him, are you a fan of a day at the races? Do you watch the stuff on TV or just keep an eye on results?

I love the race-day atmosphere and I love watching it on the telly, even more so since getting to know people and horses within racing.

It's so fun to cheer on a horse when you know the people that have put all the work in behind the scenes and how deserving they are of a win or even just a good run.

You have a very popular and ever-growing social media presence, which comes with as much bad as good it seems. How do you stay level headed in the face of some fairly nasty trolling?

I actually think I'm really fortunate with the little community I've built up on Twitter and Instagram. I get some amazingly supportive messages and have met some great people through social media, so when there are negative people it's generally like water off a ducks back. Besides, from working in hospitality for so long you get a thick skin and learn how to give it back too,

You also recently relaunched your blog, What are your long-term plans for the content side of your life?

The blog is something I've wanted to do for a long time but lacked the self-belief to do it. I couldn't understand why I wanted to do it so much but still had this feeling that nobody would care what I had to say.
My main hope is that I can continue to visit yards and to ride out for trainers, I don't think there are any other bloggers providing that sort of content so it gives a unique spin and insight into what goes on behind the scenes of racing. For me, it’s not just about betting and tips.

I'd also like to work on some more 'life after racing' style pieces and competition blogs with my own ex-racehorses to give race fans an idea on what makes what I do so different to race training. As well as that I hope to interview more people to show the real heart of the sport.

We are big fans of the day to day side of racing that most people don't know about, you've done some yard visits recently, have you learned much from those?

I've learnt that work riders and yard workers are absolute machines. The dedication and devotion behind the scenes is unbelievable and these horses are so loved.

It was also really eye-opening for me to ride out and see how different the style of riding is.

Work riding is so much about stillness and balance and just letting the horse work beneath you, which is very different from a lot of the training I do.

We love dogs on the blog and always ask our podcast guests what their favourite type of dog is. So, although we aren't on the pod yet, what's your favourite type of dog?

I like my dogs like I like my horses. Long-legged, fast and lean. So I love sighthounds, I've got a whippet x Saluki but would love a pure Saluki one day.